Diwali gift for friends: something other than another box of kaju katli, with prices for one friend or the whole groupDiwali gift for friends: something other than another box of kaju katli, with prices for one friend or the whole group

Give your friends something to light on Diwali night

By Diwali evening, most homes have six boxes of sweets and dry fruits on the dining table. Friends' gifts are the ones where you can be a little different, because nobody expects a formal gift from a friend. A gift they use on the night itself, on the balcony, the doorstep or the rangoli, is the one they remember.

Diwali this year is Sunday 8 November. The store's own banner says "Order by 4 November for Diwali delivery", so if you are reading this in the first days of November, order now.

From our range, hand-poured in pure soy wax in Jalandhar:

• Sunflower Tealights, Rs 449 for 10: ivory tealights in clear cups, each topped with a yellow sunflower. Cheerful, for the balcony rail.
• Daisy Tealights, Rs 449 for 10: tealights topped with daisies, in mint and ivory or purple and ivory. For a friend whose home is pastel, not red and gold.
• Matki Candles, Rs 599 for 4: candles in little red matki pots with a hand-painted green and yellow vine border. Festive and very Indian.
• Urli Candles, Rs 699 for a pair: flower urli bowls with a gold rim and a sunflower top. For a best friend, or a friend's family.

Match the gift to the friend

If your friend is a hostel or PG resident, check whether open flames are allowed. If not, give the tealights anyway for when they go home, or choose a different gift.

One gift or the whole group

One friend, under Rs 500: Sunflower or Daisy Tealights (Rs 449), or the Lotus Candle (Rs 349). Shipping is Rs 79 below Rs 999.

A close friend, under Rs 1,000: Diya Candles plus Sunflower Tealights is Rs 898: six terracotta Diya Candles for the puja and ten sunflowers for the balcony. Lotus Candle plus Daisy Tealights is Rs 798.

The friends' group: order to one address and hand them out. Three packs of Sunflower Tealights are Rs 1,347; three Matki packs are Rs 1,797. Both ship free. Each order goes to one address, so if your friends are in different cities, order separately for each, with a gift note on each.

For more budget combinations, see our Diwali candle gift sets under Rs 1,500.

What else friends give at Diwali

Sweets and dry fruits are still the most common. Others: a box of chocolates, a plant, a rangoli kit, a set of clay diyas with oil, a scented candle, a toran for the door, a card game for the Diwali night party, or a mithai tasting box from a famous halwai. For a friend who loves fragrance, our only scented candle is Vanilla Reverie (Rs 549); specialist candle brands carry wider scent ranges. Candles pair well with sweets: one box of each is a complete friend's gift.

Getting it to friends before 8 November

• Dispatch in 24 to 48 hours; delivery 2 to 7 days after dispatch, anywhere in India. Check the estimate for your friend's pincode on the product page. We cannot promise a date beyond the store's own cut-off line above.
• Free shipping from Rs 999; Rs 79 below.
• Prepaid only (UPI, card, net banking or wallet through Razorpay). No cash on delivery.
• Add gift packaging and a gift note on the product page.
• Damage reported within 24 hours of delivery is replaced or refunded.

With firecrackers around, keep candles off the edge of a balcony rail where they can be knocked, away from curtains and rangoli powder heaps, trim the wick to about 5 mm, never leave them unattended, and keep each burn to 3 to 4 hours.